Craigslist Wedding Ads, Problem

I have used Craigslist for a couple of years to advertise for small weddings

with no problem.

 

The last three ads I have tried to post have been "flagged" and then "deleted

by craigslist staff."

 

I have tried in vain to contact them at their e-mail address to determine the

reason and how it can be resolved. They do not respond.

 

I follow the terms of use and have not had any issues with anyone who might

flag a complaint.

 

Has anyone experienced this, and, if so, how can it be resolved.

 

Thank you

I never really liked Craig.

craigslist is a wonderful tool. one of the first sites on teh internet that harness the net's potential.

 

you may have posted in the wrong section. ie. 'photo video' is the category for equipment, not services.

 

craigslist staff will probably never respond to this unless someone is threatening to kill you. why? craigslist gets millions of postings every day, and the staff get probably thousands of emails. keep posting and I'm sure that things will settle down...

Conrad, thank you.

 

I think I was flagged by someone for some unknown reason. All of my weddings have been great and I don't have any angry clients that I know of. It's a mystery.

 

Craigslist has this flagging system that anyone can put positive or negative flags on an advertiser, but the person or business who created the ad has no way to respond. Craigslist doesn't even have a system for alerting the advertiser that there is a problem or a way to resolve it.

 

That really sucks big time. It costs me money.

 

I have booked some very good weddings there and it's a good source of clients.

 

I truly feel helpless on this.

Maybe the competition is flagging you?

Catherine's thought is mine too.

There was a thread a month or so ago about a photographer in our area (SF BAY) posting

on Craigslist and having another photographer post a derogatory comment about her

apparently because he didn't like her prices. Maybe the same person?

 

Found the thread:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Jm7v

 

Doesn't say she's in the Bay Area, but for some reason I thought she was.

It's probably a competitor with spam software. One person can have rotating IP addresses

and flag you in a minute.

agreed - w/ others about how it could be competition but it could also be people who charge much more and don't like it when people try to adverstise "low" prices....in denver this happens all the time in "design" ads....

There are alot of "Haters" out there... its probably just your competition... It's happend to me before, Ive also gotten nasty emails from other photographers.Just keep posting... Craigslist list is great, especially for people starting out like me.

Your comments are very interesting. My first thought was that it was competition, but then I thought I might be getting paranoid to think that. Evidently there may be some truth to this.

 

The big problem is that anyone can log on to an ad and add a flag comment. However, there is no recourse for the flagged advertiser to investigate this. I've tried to e-mail craigslist three times but was advised that they won't reply. The flagging system is faulty.

 

Evidently the deletion is someway keyed to the advertiser's e-mail address and/or key words, since I was able to place other non-wedding merchandise ads.

 

I'm simply frustrated on the lack of communication with craigslist on this. That doesn't say much for craigslist's respect and support for it's advertisers.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

Make sure you're posting in the correct categories. People get irritated when they see

miscategorized postings.

 

Keep in mind, too, that CL is FREE for EVERYONE. You can only expect so much "respect and

support" when you're utilizing a free-to-the-public service.

I post the wedding ads only in Services: creative or event, and I follow the rules regarding ad duration and double postings and such.

 

I realize it's a free ad. I would not object to paying for it. I'm just frustrated that the advertiser can't effectively resolve this kind of problem.

I did some checking and I think this could be an attempt to eliminate competition as suggested above.

 

I contacted previous clients and they are all very happy with my wedding photography.

 

I checked to see if I had misspelled my website name. If I leave out one critical letter my domain name will take you to an awful porn site. I spelled it correctly.

 

I was not doing anything to attack anyone else. That happens in some of these wedding ads, like "I'm much better than so and so and I charge less than this studio..." I don't do that.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that I may have placed ads before the end of the 7 days, but, I don't think I did that.

 

I have another e-mail address and I think I will use that to see if I can place an ad. CL is not going to contact me to help resolve this.

 

I guess the bottom line on this is to avoid CL for advertising wedding business.

I put ads up on craigslist too. I post under services offered> creative services. I have been flagged every time I make a special offer. I offered a free engagement portrait with booking a wedding a couple of times and it always get flagged. Straight advertising posts do not get flagged. It seems really wierd to me that this isn't allowed but I haven't looked any farther into it. Now I just don't make special offers on CL.

On two of the ads I titled it Wedding Photography: Spring Special.

 

Perhaps rewording may help. CR staff is not reading all of these since that's what the human flagging system is supposed to do. There must be some key words that triggers flagging as well.

Your competition is probably flagging your ads.

its gotta be competition. i would never suggest ignoring the "powers of craig and his list". Although there are a lot of bargain

hunters on there, even if they're interested in your lowest package, just to get people to your site, to call you, or get a

wedding consultation, its well worth the free advertisement. I've posted ads with the same specials and a lot of the same

wording, but changed the heading, and it didn't seem to matter since it let me repost the day after. I'm assuming you've got

an account with them, so check your account every few days just to make sure something didn't get flagged and removed.

When something does, wait 7 days or however long they say to, reword a few things, and the title, maybe even put a

different location like instead of a large area put a specific area.